Two big adventure bikes go head to head on the tight hairpins of the Stelvio Pass in Italy

BORMIO, Italy – David Booth: Adventure touring motorcycles are the SUVs of the biking set. Like their four-wheeled brethren, their visage is all butch off-roading, they do offer a (variable) ability to “tour” where lesser motorcycles dare not go and, most importantly — and just like SUVs —they are trendy as hell.

Again, just like their four-wheeled brethren, their are varying degrees of this off-roading pack mulishness. Some — like a Jeep Wrangler — can climb up a sheer rock face. Others — emulating, say a Honda CR-V — might be challenged to go deeper off-road than a clapped-out minivan.

In between lie the two bikes your overbearing editor and oh-so-humble Motor Mouth tested in Italy this past early June. Both BMW’s R1200GS and the XCa version of Triumph’s recently-revised version of the its top-of-the-line Tiger 1200 are, despite their pseudo dirt bike styling, really touring motorcycles in disguise. Oh, they’ll manage a dirt trail better than a Honda Gold Wing, but their raison d’être is still eating up miles of motorway and backroad, albeit without the weight of full-boat touring bikes.

2018 Triumph Tiger 1200 XC and 2018 BMW R1200GSNeil Vorano /
Driving

Neil Vorano: Humble? Hmmm, there’s a rebuttal there worth another story. Anyway, yes, for real overland adventure, I’d rather have a lighter bike (the idea of picking up more than 300 kilograms fully laden after a slow-speed drop in the bush just doesn’t appeal). But there’s no question these two bikes are ideal for longer highway trips and pavement twisties, the likes of which we enjoyed on these mountain passes of the Alps. Indeed, it was telling that, by my estimation at least, one of every three bikes we saw on our routes seemed to be a BMW GS, of some year or other. These bikers may not be traversing the Saharan dunes, but they’re putting on plenty of pavement mileage.

And they are heavy for a reason; laden with technological options, these are the luxury steeds equivalent to a Land Rover; extremely capable, but also saddled with gizmos to make the trip easier and more comfortable. Stuff like the automatic suspension adjusters, cruise control, keyless ignition, hill start assist and multi-ride modes; some I can’t do without (thank you, hand warmers, in the midst of a torrential downpour), but some seem a little superfluous (how often do you need to electronically adjust the rear suspension for pre-load?). Regardless, while there seems to be plenty of fat to cut, these are part of a popular segment.

2018 BMW R1200GS

Neil Vorano, Driving

2018 BMW R1200GS

Neil Vorano, Driving

2018 BMW R1200GS

Neil Vorano, Driving

2018 BMW R1200GS

Neil Vorano, Driving

2018 BMW R1200GS

Neil Vorano, Driving

2018 BMW R1200GS

Neil Vorano, Driving

2018 BMW R1200GS

Neil Vorano, Driving

2018 BMW R1200GS

Neil Vorano, Driving

2018 BMW R1200GS

Neil Vorano, Driving

2018 BMW R1200GS

Neil Vorano, Driving

2018 BMW R1200GS

Neil Vorano, Driving

2018 BMW R1200GS

Neil Vorano, Driving

2018 BMW R1200GS

Neil Vorano, Driving

DB: Rebuttal? Like I said overbearing. But I do agree with you that some of the electronic bits are superfluous. Certainly, once I set up the suspension damping, I never change it regardless of my riding. One thing I did really like, however, is the Triumph’s automatically adjusting rear spring pre-load. It’s really quite magical: No matter how you load up the big Tiger — just yourself, maybe with a passenger or, in my case, a passenger and a whole duffel bag worth of high heels — the XCa adjust the rear preload so that the ride height — and therefore, the handling — remains constant. The BMW ’s ESA system can do the same thing but requires, as the overbearing one laments, some futzing with a complicated infotainment system (basically you search for the suspension settings, go the rear preload submenu and then choose between one helmet, two helmets and two helmets and full luggage). With the Triumph, you just climb aboard and go. For once, electronic trickery that works.

2018 Triumph Tiger 1200 XC

Neil Vorano, Driving

2018 Triumph Tiger 1200 XC

Neil Vorano, Driving

2018 Triumph Tiger 1200 XC

Neil Vorano, Driving

2018 Triumph Tiger 1200 XC

Neil Vorano, Driving

2018 Triumph Tiger 1200 XC

Neil Vorano, Driving

2018 Triumph Tiger 1200 XC

Neil Vorano, Driving

2018 Triumph Tiger 1200 XC

Neil Vorano, Driving

2018 Triumph Tiger 1200 XC

Neil Vorano, Driving

2018 Triumph Tiger 1200 XC

Neil Vorano, Driving

2018 Triumph Tiger 1200 XC

Neil Vorano, Driving

2018 Triumph Tiger 1200 XC

Neil Vorano, Driving

2018 Triumph Tiger 1200 XC

Neil Vorano, Driving

NV: I’ll give the Triumph that, it’s a pretty handy system. I’ll also say I like its aluminum panniers with tie-down points over the plastic boxes on the GS, even though those are ingeniously expandable. I’ll even go so far as to say the Tiger has a better gearbox, its shifts neatly snicking into gear where the BMW’s feel a little vague. But that, ‘humble’ sir, is where my affinity for the Triumph over this GS ends. In our sorties over the mountain passes, through hairpin switchbacks, I’ll take the big BMW’s handling and its boxer twin engine any day.

I can go on about that air-and-oil-cooled engine, with its vastly smoother operation and lower vibrations over the Triumph’s three-cylinder mill. But what I really appreciated of the BMW was its suspension, not only able to soak up low- and high-speed bumps, but more importantly, the fact that there was little to no dive in the front forks, even coming down the mountains and braking heavily for a curve – you can thank its single-spring Telelever setup for that. After spending so much time on the BMW, a jaunt on the Tiger felt unsettling, the bike pitching forward with every grab of brake.

DB: So let’s get the Tiger’s one deficit to the Beemer out of the way right now. Though it’s lost some weight in this latest rendition — how much depends on exactly which model — the Triumph can be a heavy beast. And, though that big 1,215-cc triple has many attributes, it’s a tall thing, which means the Tiger 1200’s centre of gravity is higher — significantly higher — than the BMW’s. The result is that the XCa can be a little reluctant to turn. Oh, it handles very well – ultimately perhaps better than the BMW — but you have to force it into corners sport bike-like, knees-out and hanging off. That works when you’re solo, not so much when you’re two-up. Even my very accommodating significant other thinks that’s a little overwrought.

2018 Triumph Tiger 1200 XCa and 2018 BMW R1200GSNeil Vorano

That said, the Triumph triple is a gem. Super smooth, it’s also so linearly torqued you’ll swear it’s electric. Unlike some Triumphs past, the EFI system’s fueling is excellent and it has excellent service intervals — 24,000 km between valve services — so you can do big miles without visiting the shop.

NV: Considering your sparse diet is a form of self-flagellation, I’m not surprised you don’t mind the constant vibration of the three-cylinder engine. While both engines are just powerful enough without being too high-strung (141hp for the Triumph, 125hp for the BMW), you can’t argue the low-frequency throbs of the boxer twin aren’t more comfortable than the constant high oscillations of the triple, can you?

Regardless, neither bike is a lightweight, by any means: 242kg dry weight for the Triumph, 244kg for the BMW. But with the GS, I felt like I was sitting in it, as opposed to the Triumph, where I felt perched on it. The BMW gave much more confidence in turns, whereas the Triumph felt relatively unstable – not that the Triumph is a bad bike, just that the GS is that much better for such a big motorcycle.

DB: Vibration? We didn’t feel no stinkin’ vibration. Like I said, I’ll grant you the BMW felt lighter and, further, that said lighter feeling is a very worthwhile trait. But the Triumph engine felt smoother, more responsive and more powerful to me. Its brakes were better, the ABS didn’t actuate too soon (as the BMW’s rear brake did) and the Tiger has the simplest digital infotainment system menu I’ve used to date. It’s also the first adventure bike I’ve tested that I would not immediately replace the standard windshield.

So yes, the BMW feels like you sit in the bike but, as far as I can see, that’s it’s only advantage. That said, there’s a new R1200 GS due very soon so we may have to do this whole comparision again next year. Maybe in Switzerland this time and we can visit the Furka and Grimsel passes.

NV: I’ll take you up on that but, in the meantime, let’s just agree to disagree.